Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias Tuberosa L.)

Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias Tuberosa L.)

Other common names:

• Pleurisy Root
• Butterfly Weed
• Yellow Milkweed
• Orange Swallowwort
• Orangeroot
• Whiteroot
• Indian Posy
• Windroot
• Canada Tuber
• Canada Flux
• Chigger Flower

Asclepias: from the name of the Greek god of healing and medicine

Tuberosa: meaning “tuberous,” referring to the tuberous root

Milkweed Family: Asclepiadaceae

Found throughout the tallgrass biome in dry, open areas, usually in prairies or prairie relicts. Occasionally it is found along old country roads or old or abandoned roads or railroad rights-of-way. Flowers from June to September.

The stout, simple or terminally branched stems are generally clumped and may be up to 2 ½ feet high. Rough-pointed leaves up to 6 inches long alternate along the stem. The typical milkweed milky sap is lacking; instead, a watery juice exudes from the cut stem.

The flowers are normally bright orange but occasionally are yellow. Many individual flowers are in a head.

            The flowers attract insects, but like the flowers of other milkweed plants, they are designed to favor larger flying pollinators and to prevent crawling insects from getting to the nectar. As with other milkweeds, only a few of the numerous flowers get pollinated, so ordinarily a plant has only one or two pods. This is due to a complex pollinating mechanism where the pollen sacs are attached to a structure located in the slit between the anthers. This pollinium, which sticks to the pollinating insect, must be pulled free and carried to another flower. Many insects lack the strength to pull this structure or themselves free and are found dead on the flower head.

            The spindle-shaped pods, 3 to 5 inches long, contain many seeds. Each seed has a silky plume to aid in its dispersal.

            This species reproduces by seed and by rootstock. It is easily established in gardens or in restored prairies from seed, but transplanting is difficult because the root is stout and deep.

At one time this root was considered to be a cure for pleurisy, hence, the name pleurisy root. Early doctors listed pleurisy root as a subtonic, diaphoretic, alternative, expectorant, diuretic, laxative, escharotic, carminative, astringent, ant rheumatic and ant syphilitic.

            The root is enlarged. This gave rise to the last part of the scientific name.

            Butterfly milkweed is one of the most striking species of the tallgrass biome. The bright color may attract insects, including butterflies, hence, its common name.

            At least 16 species of milkweed occur in the heart of the tallgrass prairie. Some provide an index of prairie quality; none are showy as the butterfly milkweed.

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Purple Coneflower

Purple Coneflower

Other common names:

• Black Samson
• Red Sunflower

Echinacea: from the Greek, meaning “sea urchin” or “hedgehog,” referring to the sharp, spiny chaff on the domelike center of this flower.

Purpurea: from the Greek, meaning “purple,” referring to the color of the ray flowers of some species

Daisy Family: Asteraceae (compositae)

Found in prairies and dry, open woods. Blooms late May to October. Other species commonly found in the area are E. angustifolia and E. pallida. E. pallida blooms May to June.

Purple coneflower grows from 2 to nearly 4 feet tall, but other species may be from 2-3 feet tall. The ovate to lineolate lower leaves have toothed edges and are very rough to the touch. The upper leaves and leaves of other species are without toothed edges. Leaves are 3-8 inches long and 1-3 inches wide.

The plant grows from a thick, grayish brown to black perennial root. The furrowed or ridged rootstock is ¼ to ½ inch in diameter.

The flower head has 12-20 spreading or drooping, purple, petal-like rays. Rays occasionally vary from purple to crimson and rarely are pale. Each ray is 1 ½ to 3 inches long. The center cone is more dome-shaped than cone-shaped, and it is rough and prickly to the touch. The entire flower may be 3 to 3 ½ inches across. The rays of a more southern species, E. paradoxa, are bright yellow.

Plains Indians favored the root of purple coneflower for snakebites, bee stings, headaches, stomach cramps, toothaches, enlarged glands such as mumps, sore throats and hydrophobia and doe distemper in horses. The Sioux used freshly scraped root (as a poultice) for snakebite and for the bite of a mad dog, and they chewed pieces of rootstalk for toothache.

American Indians discovered that the plant was somewhat like a burn preventative and enabled the body to endure extreme heat. Medicine men bathed their hands and arms in the juice, the picked out meat from boiling stew. Sometimes it was used prior to sweat baths and ritual feats such as immersing hands in scalding water or holding live coals in the mouth.

A smoke treatment was used for headache in humans and for distemper in horses.

Early doctors thought purple coneflower made the body more resistant to infection, and they often used it to induce profuse sweating. They believed it has a bright future as a medicinal drug source. Modern medicine still uses extracts from this plant for treating wounds and sore throats.

The root of E. angustifolia has been used by the Plains Indians as a pain killer for toothaches and sore throats, since chewing the root causes the throat, tongue and jaw to be numbed. It has also been used as a blood purifier and the treat snakebite, blood poisoning and cancer. Burns were bathed in E. pallida juice to give relief from pain.

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Prairie False Indigo

Prairie False Indigo: Baptisia Leucantha T. & G.

Other common names:

• Large White Wild Indigo

• Atlantic Wild Indigo

• White False Indigo

Baptisia: from the Greek, meaning “to dye,” referring to use of some species as a poor-quality indigo dye.

Leucantha: meaning “white-flowered”

Legume Family: Fabaceae (Leguminosae)

Found throughout the tallgrass prairie on rich, sometimes wet, prairie soils. Blooms May to June.

This 2- to 5- foot high, stout, upright, gray-green perennial has smooth stems and succulent, ascending branches. The leaves are alternate and have small, sharp stipules. There are three leaflets per leaf. Each leaflet, 1 to 2 inches long and ½ inch to 1 inch wide, is widely rounded at the end and narrow at the base. The leaves turn black on drying.

The 1-inch long white flowers occur on a terminal, upright raceme (open spike) that may be up to 1 foot or more long. The flowers are similar to pea flowers.

The blackish pods, which tend to droop, are about ¾ inch long. They are connected to the calyx by a relatively long stalk.

In the early stage of growth, prairie false indigo resembles asparagus, but it is poisonous and should not be eaten. The entire plant, green or dried in hay, is poisonous to horses and cattle.

B. leucantha, which contains alkaloids, was included in early lists of medicinal plants. Boiled roots were used to treat chronic colds. Some early settlers made a decoration of the root to treat scarlet fever, typhus, and epidemic dysentery.

It served as an emetic, a cathartic, and a coloring agent. B. tinctoria was probably also used.

The Meskwaki used prairie false indigo as a cure for sores that were slow to heal, as an emetic, and as a treatment for eczema. It was combined with sycamore bark as a medicine for axe or knife wounds and combined with senega snakeroot (Polygala senega) for snakebite.

Some plains Indians used a decoration of the leaves as a stimulant; they also applied it to cuts and wounds.

This species was regarded by some beekeepers as a source of a light amber honey with a characteristic flavor. Children once used its dry pods as toy rattles. In colonial times it served as a dye, but it was less satisfactory than true indigo.

Another species, B. tinctoria, is called horsefly weed because of the custom of trying a bunch of it to a horse’s harness to repel flies

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A Prairie’s Path—how burning it helped make it green today

A Prairie’s Path—how burning it helped make it green today

Article from College of DuPage's Courier

It all starts with the flick of a lighter. Moments later a patch of prairie the size of a swimming pool will be reduced to a layer of black ash and soot.

With an abundance of cold windy days in early April, Brian McQuaid, who has been the natural areas manager for six years, was having a difficult time finding a good day to burn the prairie.

“Our   prairies   are   surrounded   by roads, buildings, athletic fields and residential areas,” McQuaid said, “It’s important to minimize the negative impacts of the smoke so certain areas are burned only when the wind direction is such that the smoke will be carried away from sensitive areas of the campus.” According to McQuaid in the winter months the plants in the prairie are dormant with their about ground parts having died in

the fall.

A fire in late March or early April clears away the dead stems from the previous year and deposits the nutrients from those stems back into the soil.

Non-native grasses, like the grass on most lawns, sprout up in early spring. The same fire that helps the nature prairie plants grow also kills, or at least damages, non- native plants that had sprouted in the prairie.

“The  prairie  doesn’t  really need  to 'recover’ from the fire,” McQuaid said. “The fire allows the normal progression of the growing season to begin a little easier than it would in the absence of controlled burn.”

It will be a few weeks before the prairie begins to grow its native plants. Although the fire prevents them from being a serious problem, some of the first plants to green after the fire are non-native grasses.

By early May the first flowers will begin to bloom, by July the prairie will be in its peak-growing season, by fall it starts all over.

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Shooting Star (Primrose F.)

Shooting Star (Primrose F.)

Other common names:

·         Prairie Pointers

·         Bonneville Shooting Star

·         Jeffrey’s Shooting Star

·         Roosterheads

·         Doveweed

·         Turkey Mullein

·         Dodecatheon Meadia

Primrose Family: Primulaceae

Description: This native perennial plant consists of a basal rosette of leaves, from which emerges one or more stalks of flowers. The leaves are up to 6" long and 2½" across, and oblong or oblanceolate. They are greyish green or green with a prominent central vein and smooth margins. There are finer side veins that are pinnately arranged.

The foliage and other parts of this plant are hairless. A green or red flowering stalk emerges from the rosette that is about 1½' tall, from which an umbel of about 6-40 flowers dangle downward. Each flower has 5 petals that are reflexed upward, converging at the base of the flower, which consists of a pointed yellowish tube with white and brown accents. The petals are white, light pink, or rosy pink. There is no floral scent. In overall appearance, the inflorescence looks like a collection of pretty shooting stars, hence the common name for this plant.

The blooming period occurs during late spring and lasts about a month. The entire plant dies down when summer arrives, although the dried up stalks persist somewhat longer. The small dark seeds are contained in seed capsules that are held erect (unlike the flowers). They are somewhat cylindrical, but taper at the ends. Gusts of wind shake the stalks holding the seed capsules, and can carry the seeds several feet away. The root system is fibrous. Over time, offsets can slowly form.

Range & Habitat: Shooting Star occurs in the majority of counties in Illinois. This plant is occasional to locally common in high quality habitats, otherwise it is rare or absent. Habitats include moist to slightly dry black soil prairies, hill prairies, openings in rocky upland forests, limestone glades, bluffs along major rivers, fens, and abandoned fields. An occasional wildfire during the late summer or fall is beneficial because it reduces the dead vegetation that can smother this plant during the spring.

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Prairie Smoke (Geum Triflorum)

Prairie Smoke (Geum Triflorum)

Other common names:

·         Three-Flowered Avens

·         Old Man’s Whiskers

·         Purple Avens

·         Red Avena

·         Long-Plumed Avens

Geum: New Latin; a plant of uncertain identity

Rose Family: Rosaceae

Description: This perennial wildflower forms a low leafy rosette about 6-10" across. Individual basal leaves are 3-5" long and 1-1¾" across; each leaf is odd-pinnate with 3-6 pairs of lateral leaflets and a terminal leaflet. There are also secondary leaflets that are inserted between some pairs of lateral leaflets; these secondary leaflets are quite small and poorly developed. These leaflets are oriented away from the center of the rosette, forming an oblique angle with the rachis (central stalk of the compound leaf). Individual leaflets are oblanceolate in shape, shallowly cleft, coarsely dentate, and slightly ciliate along their margins; they are somewhat variable and irregular. 

During the growing season, the upper leaf surface is medium green and sparsely covered with short appressed hairs, while the lower leaf surface is light green and hairy primarily along the rachis and major veins. Flowering stalks develop from the center of the rosette, becoming 5-10" tall at maturity. Each stalk terminates in an umbel of 3 nodding flowers. The flowering stalks (peduncles) are reddish green to reddish purple, terete, and densely hairy. There is a pair of leafy bracts at the base of each umbel that are deeply cleft with linear to linear-oblong segments. These bracts are reddish green to reddish purple and hairy. Sometimes pairs of leafy bractlets develop along the hairy pedicels of the flowers; these bractlets are also deeply cleft with linear segments.

Individual flowers are ½-1" long and similarly across. Each flower consists of 5 pale red to purplish red sepals, 5 white to pale red petals, a central cluster of pistils, and numerous stamens that are arranged in a ring. The sepals extend along the entire length of the flower and they are joined together at the base; each sepal is deltate in shape and hairy. Each flower also has 5 linear floral bracts (one floral bract between each adjacent pair of sepals).These floral bracts are the same color as the sepals and hairy;they extend outward from the sepals. The petals are largely hidden by the long sepals as the flower barely opens.

The blooming period can occur from early to late spring and lasts about 1-2 months. Afterwards, each flower becomes erect and develops a dense cluster of achenes with long feathery tails. These achenes are distributed by the wind. The root system is fibrous and rhizomatous. This wildflower can form small clonal colonies of plants from the rhizomes. A rosette of low basal leaves persists through the winter; these winter leaves are often reddish purple.

Range and Habitat: The native Prairie Smoke is restricted to northern Illinois, where it is uncommon. Elsewhere in the state, it is absent. In Illinois, habitats consist of dry gravelly prairies and hill prairies. In other states (e.g., Michigan), this plant has been found in sand prairies and alvars (a habitat that is dominated by limestone slabs). This conservative species is found in high quality prairies where the vegetation is neither too dense nor tall.

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Bur Oak (Quercus Macrocarpa)

Bur Oak (Quercus Macrocarpa)

Beech Family: Fagaceae

Description: This native tree is 80-120' tall at maturity, forming an ovoid to globoid crown with a tall stout trunk (up to 5' across). The branches of the crown are ascending to widely spreading and somewhat crooked. The thick trunk bark is gray to gray-brown with flat corky ridges and deep irregular furrows. The bark of branches and twigs is gray-brown to brown and often rather corky with flat elevated ridges. Alternate leaves about 4-10" long and 2½–5" across develop from the twigs. These leaves are obovate or broadly elliptic in outline and pinnatifid with rounded lobes. Most lobes extend moderately to deeply into the leaf blade. The deepest lobes usually occur along the lower one-half of the blade. Leaf margins are undulate and irregular, lacking any bristles or true teeth. Upper leaf surfaces are dark green and glabrous, while lower surfaces are pale gray-green and densely tomentose with short fine hairs. These hairs are often stellate or clustered together (visible with a 10x hand lens). The petioles are ½–1" long, light green, and either glabrous or tomentose.

Bur Oak is monoecious, producing both male (staminate) and female (pistillate) flowers on the same tree. The male flowers are produced in drooping yellowish catkins about 2-5" long; individual male flowers consist of a lobed calyx with 5-20 stamens. Female flowers are either solitary or clustered together in groups of 2-3. Individual female flowers (about 1/8" in length) consist of a pistil that is covered with appressed scales (involucral bracts) with red styles at its tip. Overall, a female flower has the appearance of a tiny narrow cone. Both male and female flowers bloom as the leaves begin to develop during the spring. Cross-pollination is by wind. During the summer, fertile female flowers develop into nuts that are either solitary or occur in pairs. The nuts occur on short stalks up to 1" long (shorter than the petioles of the leaves); they are often nearly sessile. Nuts mature in a single year and usually germinate during the fall of the same year. Individual nuts (including their cups) are 1½–2½" long and similarly across; they are initially green, but become brown to grayish brown at maturity. The distinctive cups extend at least one-half the length of the nuts, sometimes nearly enclosing them. The coarse scales of the cups are keeled and rather knobby in appearance; the outer scales along the rim each cup have soft awns up to 1/3" (10 mm.) in length, forming a conspicuous fringe around the nut. The starchy meat of the nuts is low in tannins and potentially edible. The root system produces a deep taproot and widely spreading lateral roots. At favorable sites, this tree sometimes forms colonies.

Range and Habitat: Bur Oak is a common tree that is found in every county of Illinois. Habitats include moist bottomland woodlands, upland woodlands, and savannas where deciduous trees are dominant. This tree is most commonly found in bottomland woodlands a little outside of the flood zone. It also occurs in savannas and can be an invader of prairies because of its resistance to fire. Occasionally, Bur Oak is cultivated as a landscape tree, where it can become quite large.

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Garlic Mustard (Alliaria Petiolata)

Garlic Mustard (Alliaria Petiolata)

Mustard Family: Brassicaceae

Description: This introduced biennial plant is 1-3' tall. During the 1st year it consists of a small rosette of leaves, while during the 2nd year it becomes a little-branched plant about 1-3' tall. The leaves of 1st year plants are up to 2" long and across. They are cordate-orbicular with margins that are dentate or wavy and their upper surface has a reticulated network of veins. The petioles of these basal leaves are rather long and slender. The alternate leaves of 2nd year plants have a similar appearance, except that they are usually longer than wide, spanning up to 3" long and 2" across. The lower and middle leaves along the stems are usually cordate with either acute or blunt tips, while the upper leaves are often ovate. Both the stems and petioles of 2nd year plants are occasionally hairy, otherwise they are glabrous like the blades of the leaves. The foliage is often light green or yellowish green in appearance, otherwise it is medium green. The upper stems terminate in narrow racemes of white flowers. While in bloom, these flowers are bunched together toward the top of the raceme. However, as the flowers mature and develop seedpods, the raceme becomes more elongated and they become more separated.

Each flower is about ¼" across, consisting of 4 white petals, 4 light green sepals, a short cylindrical style, and several stamens with pale yellow anthers. The pedicels of flowers while they are in bloom are up to ¼" in length, although they become longer later. The blooming period occurs during late spring or early summer, lasting about 1-2 months. The flowers are replaced by narrow seedpods that are called "siliques." These seedpods are about 1½–2" long and narrowly cylindrical (although slightly 4-angled in circumference). Relative to erect stalk of the raceme, they are more or less ascending.As the seedpods become mature, the foliage dies down by the end of summer. Each mature seedpod contains a single row of black oblongoid seeds. The root system consists of a shallow taproot that is white and branches frequently. This plant often forms colonies by reseeding itself.

Range and Habitat: Garlic Mustard has been reported primarily in NE and central Illinois, where it is locally common. In other areas of the state, this plant is apparently less common or absent, however it is rapidly spreading. There is little doubt that it is more common than official records indicate. This plant was introduced into the United States from Eurasia. Habitats include moist to slightly dry deciduous woodlands, woodland borders, areas along woodland paths, semi-shaded areas in gardens and along fence rows, and partially shaded waste areas. This plant thrives in light shade or partial sun and it is intolerant of regular mowing. At the present time, Garlic Mustard is the worst herbaceous invader of deciduous woodlands in Illinois as it has the capacity to crowd out and destroy all of the native wildflowers that bloom during the spring. Effective measures of control include pulling the plants by their roots and spraying the foliage with herbicides. Cutting the flowering stalks from their stems is not an adequate method of control because Garlic Mustard is capable of regenerating new flowering stalks from lateral stems. Also, mature seeds can develop from any cut stalks of flowers and immature seedpods that are left on the ground.

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Silver Maple (Acer Sacharinum)

 Silver Maple (Acer Sacharinum)

Maple Family: Aceraceae

Description: This tree is 60-100' tall at maturity, forming a short broad trunk and an ovoid to obovoid crown that is defined by long ascending branches of considerable size. Trunk bark of mature trees is gray and rough-textured, consisting of flattened scales and straight to curving furrows. On very old trees, the bark may become slightly shaggy when the scales become curved and somewhat loose. Trunk bark of young trees and branch bark are light gray and more smooth, while twigs are reddish brown, smooth, and covered with scattered white lenticels. Pairs of opposite deciduous leaves occur along the twigs and smaller branches. Individual leaves are up to 6" long and 4" across; they are palmately divided into 5 primary lobes. The primary lobes themselves are often divided into shallow secondary lobes and their margins have a few large teeth. All of the lobes are sharply cleft and pointed at their tips; the primary lobes extend deeply into the interior of each leaf. The upper leaf surface is light to medium-light green and glabrous, while the lower surface is conspicuously whitened and glabrous to mostly glabrous (some hairs may occur along the undersides of the major veins). The slender petioles of the leaves are up to 5" long, light green to red, and glabrous.

Individual trees of Silver Maple can be monoecious or dioecious; trees with perfect florets are rare. Some trees are capable of changing their gender from year to year. Staminate florets occur in small dense clusters about 1/3" across on short lateral spur-twigs; these florets are nearly sessile and they vary in color from yellowish green to red. Individual staminate florets consist of 4 sepals, 4-6 stamens, and no petals. At the base of each staminate cluster, there are several scaly bractlets. Pistillate florets also occur in small dense clusters about 1/3" across on very short peduncles; these florets are nearly sessile and they vary in color from greenish yellow to red. Individual pistillate florets consist of 4 sepals, a pistil with a pair of styles, and no petals. At the base of each pistillate cluster, there are several scaly bractlets. The blooming period occurs from early to mid-spring before the leaves develop. The florets are cross-pollinated by the wind. Fertile female florets soon develop pairs of samaras (seeds with elongated wings). In each pair, the samaras are held about 90° apart from each other (or a little less) and they are joined together at the base. At maturity, individual samaras are 1½-2½" long, becoming light brown; they dangle from slender pedicels and fall to the ground during early summer. The root system produces woody lateral roots that are fairly shallow and widely spreading. The leaves usually become pale yellow during the fall.

Range and Habitat: In Illinois, Silver Maple is a common tree that is found in every county. Habitats consist primarily of moist floodplain woodlands, riverbanks, and swamps. In these types of habitats, Silver Maple is often one of the codominant trees. In drier locations, it is not competitive with Sugar Maple (Acer saccharum) and other trees in the long run because its seedlings are less tolerant of shade. This tree is often cultivated as a landscape plant in yards and parks. In urban and suburban areas, the offspring of these cultivated trees often escape into adjacent areas that are not mowed (e.g., fence rows and vacant lots).